Posts Tagged ‘migraine’

Recent research published in the journal Cephalalgia indicates a possible connection between nearby lightning and the onset of migraine headaches. More than 28 million Americans are affected by migraines, which may be accompanied by nausea, sensitivity to light and visual hallucinations. Migraine patients are sometimes disabled for hours or days by their severe headaches.

Scientists from Ohio’s University of Cincinnati College of Medicine studied research participants’ headache logs along with weather data from Ohio and Missouri. They found that their participants were 28 percent more likely to have a migraine on days during which lightning strikes occurred within 25 miles of their homes.

How might lightning induce migraines? Perhaps thunderstorms bring more allergy spores into an environment. Or, perhaps the electromagnetic waves and ozone produced by lightning somehow act to trigger the headaches.